How to Buy a Timeshare

Earlier today, my wife and I went for yet another two-hour timeshare presentation at
The Legacy Golf Resort on 32nd Street, "scenically nestled in the foothills of Phoenix's South Mountain and reigning over 280 acres." I place timeshare presentations only marginally higher than a dentist or an IRS appointment, but my wife is curious about area resorts and likes the inducements-- so off we went. We were hustled while we were on a date night at Tempe Marketplace, a new mall. (We had dinner there at a ribs restaurant Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que before heading out to ASU.) So, with the promise of about $150 in a Visa and restaurant credits, we went to the timeshare.

The first lesson is that you can negotiate these inducements. Although the timeshares want to give away as little as possible, there is some flexibility as well on getting from them more than other people will get. From the perspective of the timeshare firms, it seems to me that their marketing process is wasteful and inefficient-- and, because of the marketing overhead, the value may not exist for most consumers. The bean counters have probably determined that one out of ten presentations result in a sale. But, nevertheless, if they can reduce the sale ratio to one out of five, the profit goes right to the bottom line. There must be a better way. We get several calls a month from people pleading with us to visit their resort. Sometimes we will go, but most times we won't. I think it would serve the resort owners such as Marriott, Wyndham, Shell, and others well to collaborate in creating a database consisting of all people that are called so that people that they can identify people that are not qualified or have a record of disinterest. They could use the same kind of neural network scoring used by credit card companies and immigration control. I'm sure the payback on this kind of an investment would be short.

The presentation made by the Shell associate stressed inventory availability, exchange flexibility, same day confirmations, increasing hoteling costs, the company's financial strength, and overall resort and plan amentities. Ever timeshare presentation tries to differentiate between other timeshares and also buying directly instead of through third-party vendors, such as eBay.

Much of the time is spent in casual conversation. Of course, the saleman is looking for words from us that can be made into buttons that he can push to get a sale, such as the button of guilt or stress. And, of course, it is in our power to withhold from him the stuff that could make those buttons.

We walked through an example of the timeshare unit. The Legacy put its best foot forward, and the unit was attractive and spacious, more so than average although not entirely to my taste.

As with all timeshare presentations, they are slow in getting to the bottom line, which was 7,000 points (equating to two or three weeks) at $40,999. If bought today, the price would be $30,899. They would accept a downpayment of $4,239 with the rest financed at a mere 17.55 percent. Shell also offered an Explorer program, in which you could use 6,000 points over two years for the cost of $1,849.

We have owned a timeshare for about ten years-- 19,000 points retailing at about $50,000 through Sunterra. We enjoy travel, and the program seems to work for us. But it certainly isn't for all people, and it is easy to allow yourself to be swayed by appeals to the angels of your better nature to buy into a program or overbuy into a program that you really don't need.

So my final lesson is that if you really want a timeshare, you should decide that you want it before you go the the presentation-- and then hold out for the very best deal at the very last minute. As all good businessmen know, you can negotiate anything and a piece of paper with a number on it means nothing.